To create a page on a new topic, enter the topic in the search box at top and click on {{Boxword|<tt>Go</tt>|bg=#EEEEEE}}. If the page already exists then you can edit it. If it does not exist then you will be offered the opportunity to create it. Note where it says: "<tt>There is no page titled "whatever". You can <span style="color:red;">create this page</span></tt>"; clicking on the red "create this page" will do just that. Don't forget to check for alternate spellings, abbreviations etc.

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To create a page on a new topic, enter the topic in the search box at top and click on {{Button|Go}}. If the page already exists then you can edit it. If it does not exist then you will be offered the opportunity to create it. Note where it says: "<tt>There is no page titled "whatever". You can <span style="color:red;">create this page</span></tt>"; clicking on the red "create this page" will do just that. Don't forget to check for alternate spellings, abbreviations etc.

We'd appreciate it if you follow the conventions indicated below - but nobody will shout at you if you don't follow them exactly or if you make any mistakes.

We'd appreciate it if you follow the conventions indicated below - but nobody will shout at you if you don't follow them exactly or if you make any mistakes.

Revision as of 05:28, 1 October 2012

If you've never edited a wiki before, the first thing you should know is that it is very easy. Don't forget that if you make a mistake, it can easily be undone. You might also like to read our Newcomer's guide.

If you already know wiki editing basics but want to know more then click here. If you only want to know how to create a new article then go to New article.

Editing an existing page

To edit a page that already exists:

Click on the Edit tab at the top of the page. This will change your view of the page to an editable version of the code behind the page. Don't let this frighten you as it's very easy to understand. You will see that, with few exceptions, it's made up of plain text.

To edit only a section of a page, click the [edit] link at right of heading of section you want to edit. This is preferred for several reasons: it's less work for the editor on your machine/browser (some limit editing to 32 kb) and it means someone else can edit a different section at the same time. See also Help:Detailed editing#Edit_Conflict

Edit the text or add to it.

Click Show preview at the bottom of the page—this will let you see what your text will look like when (or if) you decide to save it.

If you still see something you don't like, then scroll down to the edit box, change the text, and click Show preview again.

If you're happy with the result, click Save page at the bottom and you're done.

Of course you don't have to preview first, if it's a small edit like a spelling correction you would probably simply click Save page without previewing. Some editors, even those among us who have "been there, seen it and done it", find, however, that when they don't preview they often end up wishing they had…

Tip: Don't use space to indent lines. Starting with a space turns off
line wrapping and gives literally spaced text within a dotted box, like this one.

To indent, use colons (:, ::, :::) like this line.

Edit summary

Below the main "Edit" area there is a long oblong text box with the word "Summary" to the left. This is to tell other people what sort of edit you've made. Use " sp " to indicate a spelling correction or " typo " for a typographical error for instance. Some people like to put the first line of the paragraph they've added to give others an idea of their edit.

This is a minor edit

If you have only corrected the spelling of one word or made some other small change then you should click the "This is a minor edit" box so that other users know that you have not made a major change to an article they may be watching.

Watch this page

Many regular wiki users like to be able to easily see when a page that interests them has been changed. If you click the "Watch this page" box at the bottom of the edit page, any changes to it will show up in bold for you on the "Recent changes" page. You can obtain the same result when viewing a page by clicking Watch (in the drop down menu next to the tabs at page top when viewing that page).

Creating a new page

To create a page on a new topic, enter the topic in the search box at top and click on Go. If the page already exists then you can edit it. If it does not exist then you will be offered the opportunity to create it. Note where it says: "There is no page titled "whatever". You can create this page"; clicking on the red "create this page" will do just that. Don't forget to check for alternate spellings, abbreviations etc.

We'd appreciate it if you follow the conventions indicated below - but nobody will shout at you if you don't follow them exactly or if you make any mistakes.

Conventions

If the title is more than one word then usually only the first word should be capitalized, exceptions are people's names, book titles etc.

The topic (title) of the page should be included in the first sentence, as near to the start as possible, and it should be in bold. The simplest way to make something bold is to select it with your cursor and then click the B button to the top left of the editing box.[1]

Headings

To create a heading write your heading text, select it, and click on the big A button at the top left of the editing page.

The same result is obtained by entering == (two equals signs) each side of the text you want to be your heading. If you wish to create sub-headings then write your heading and put === my heading === where "my heading" is replaced by the text you want to use. [2]

Categories

All pages should be in a category. Categorise by entering [[category:your category]] where "your category" is the category you wish to use. A list of existing categories can be found here. If you cannot see an appropriate category then please create one. You do this by simply including the [[category:your category]] at the bottom of the page. This will create a new category in red. If you click on this red link and write a short description of the new category, it will become "activated", i.e. go blue.

Help! This "wiki markup" is too complicated for me

If you want to try using a text editor to work with teflpedia (or any mediawiki product) then you might try Open Office. This is a free package which, apart from being a free substitute for Microsoft Office, will also allow you to edit wikis directly from the word processor, though results may be variable. See our open office article for more instructions.

Talk pages

Every article page also has an associated talk page (click on the Discussion tab at the top of the page). Please feel free to raise any relevant issue on that talk page. You might wish to use emoticons when communicating.

Sandbox

If you want to test your wiki editing skills then please use the sandbox.

Or to practice editing you can create your own playroom:

in the "search" box type: "user:your user name/sandbox" and click on "Go". You can then create a page to do as you wish by clicking on "create this page".